railroad rail steel

JTknives

JTknives

Blade Heat Treating www.jarodtodd.com
Knifemaker / Craftsman / Service Provider
Joined
Jun 11, 2006
Messages
8,633
the track next to the shop is being replaced and thy gave me a 4 foot long chunk of the heavy stuff. which is like over 130 pounds per yard i think. I have done some searching and it seams like it could be good for knives as it looks like good steel. I would like to cut it up and forge some blades out of it

0.69 to 0.82 percent carbon
0.7 to 1 percent manganese
0.1 to 0.23 percent silicon
maximum phosphorus concentration of 0.04 percent

so it looks good on paper, of course i would have some tested as i have a bunch of it and it would be worth knowing, then its not a mystery steel.
 
I contacted UP about rail about 2 years ago. Fed RR regs define what rail has to be. The person I spoke with in Omaha was very helpful, read me the specs, and told me that UP uses 1084 for their rails.

So you've got enough 1084 for a while, you just have to make small pieces. My son works for UP. I have several hundred pounds of it.

Gene
 
I worked on the tracks at Fibre Jarod, and had access to a lot of rail, from 1800's era 70# rail on up to 130# rail. Almost all of it was 1080 with a real high manganese content.

As you can see, this is awfully close to what Gene found out in his research as well. :)

I'd recommend you whack a piece of the top rail off, forge it down, heat-treat it, etch it, test it, and see what you got. :)

A few feet of 130# rail would make a LOT of knives, you could easily justify getting it tested with that much on your hands.
 
NickWheeler said:
I worked on the tracks at Fibre Jarod, and had access to a lot of rail, from 1800's era 70# rail on up to 130# rail. Almost all of it was 1080 with a real high manganese content.

As you can see, this is awfully close to what Gene found out in his research as well. :)

I'd recommend you whack a piece of the top rail off, forge it down, heat-treat it, etch it, test it, and see what you got. :)

A few feet of 130# rail would make a LOT of knives, you could easily justify getting it tested with that much on your hands.
Click to expand...

Ya it would make a lot of knives and there is more around here to be found to. we have tracks everywhere here in Utah because we have a lot of coal. so if i like it i can easily find a lot more. i normally not the kind of person to scrounge for steel but it this case i mean i have 150 pounds of one type of steel and if i test it and knife what it is then its just as good as ordering some new steel but a heck of a lot cheaper. where is a place to have stuff tested. i have some other stuff i need tested as well, around 300 pounds of L6 round stock that was marked L6 but you never know and some O2 :D.
 
With the high manganese content it dosen't respond to clay heat treat. I saw a knife that Rob patton made out of some rail two years ago and it was great. It had a kind of damasine pattern to it and Rob swore that he had not folded it. I forged a katana out of some and it very deffinately looks folded. have fun
 
Bill Burke said:
With the high manganese content it dosen't respond to clay heat treat. I saw a knife that Rob patton made out of some rail two years ago and it was great. It had a kind of damasine pattern to it and Rob swore that he had not folded it. I forged a katana out of some and it very deffinately looks folded. have fun
Click to expand...

I've noticed this with the thermit sprues that are left trackside after welding rail. I assumed that it was alloy banding and attributed it to the thermit welding process. I wonder why you'd see the same in steel from a rail segment (unless it was a segment right at a weld).

Does the lots and lots of Mn that railroads like to use to toughen this steel up cause lots of alloy banding? It looks cool for sure, and the resultant blades can be tougher than nails, but I wonder what's going on from a metallurgical perspective.

-d
 
the section of track i have has a welded section, i could cut an make a blade out of that part and see how it goes and looks.
 
Seems to me several years ago there was RR track article in Blade.
Sounds familiar to what Y'all have said.

I do remember reading another article about rerolling bedrails outa worn out track.

Would just the outside of the rail be classified as junk steel?
Seems to me the steel on the inside of the rail hasn't even been used yet. :D:D:D
 
How do you cut railroad steel?! My dad has a piece that I can have that I might use as an anvil, and possibly knife steel if I have a way to cut it.
 
go mike said:
How do you cut railroad steel?! My dad has a piece that I can have that I might use as an anvil, and possibly knife steel if I have a way to cut it.
Click to expand...

With any oxy/acetylene torch or a cutoff wheel....If you torch cut it though you'd probably want to grind off the HAZ though as it'll likely be full of de-carbed areas.

-d
 
The bad thing about steel like that is the amount of work required to get the steel to a workable size for a blade.

I may have been watching the science channel not long ago. There is one company that takes the whole rail. Heats it up and then runs it through a series of roller's and dies and they end up with the steel T post for agricultural fencing.
 
Mr Richard
Do you remember which T-post manufactorer
that was? 1080-1084 T-posts would be sweet!
I am not trying to stir the scrap steel pot, I promise
 
strahd71 said:
Jt, promise when you work it you will take alot of pictures!

jake
Click to expand...

O i will :D . I am excited. Its cool to find some RR stuff that can make a good knife
 
Tommegow said:
Mr Richard
Do you remember which T-post manufactorer
that was? 1080-1084 T-posts would be sweet!
I am not trying to stir the scrap steel pot, I promise
Click to expand...

Sorry, I sure don't remember the name of the outfit. I've had a piece of a T post out in the shop for a while. When I sparked it it did not look like 1080. If I see a rerun of that video I'll see if I can spot the name.
 
i remember the show about turning rail into T-post. some outfit out of chicago i think

jake
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top